


One Way Ticket

by dornfelder



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: 1.18, Canon Divergence, M/M, The Long Goodbye, episode coda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-26
Updated: 2015-03-26
Packaged: 2018-03-19 19:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3620955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dornfelder/pseuds/dornfelder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of turning to Rachel in the aftermath of Matt's betrayel, Danny goes to see Steve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Way Ticket

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet has been sitting in my WIP file since I fist saw the episode, basically forgotten until I started cleaning up my desktop and stumbled over it. Delete or post?

Steve opens the door and isn’t surprised to see Danny in front of him

“What happened,” Steve says. Not a question, really

“He’s gone. Matty’s gone. I lost him,” Danny says, and Steve exhales, runs a hand over his head, lets it drop. 

“I’m sorry, Danny. That’s – wow, that’s tough, man.”

Danny sways on his feet, and there’s that look on his face – distant and open at the same time, as if he’s too far away in thought to cover up his vulnerability. “Can I – can I come in?” he asks, and Steve can’t remember that Danny ever bothered to ask before.

“Sure.” He takes a step back. Danny enters quietly, carrying himself like someone who is bone tired. 

“I wanted – I wanted to go to Rachel, but then I asked myself, what are you doing, what are you hoping for? We’re on speaking terms again and it’s great, really great, but it doesn’t mean anything, and it felt... _wrong,_ you know?”

Steve listens, nods for confirmation. He pulls two beer out of the fridge, opening them and passing one to Danny without a comment. 

“So I came here. And I thought – are you ever going to trust me again, after this?” Danny looks at him sharply, as if he’s expecting judgment, as if he already knows the sentence. “Because I let him go. Because I could have stopped him and I didn’t.”

“Danny,” Steve says, quietly. “He’s your brother.” He knows to what lengths he would do to protect Mary, and Danny, who has a protective streak a mile wide, is just the same. They’re both the same where it counts. 

Danny puts his bottle down on the kitchen counter, hands reaching out in a helpless gesture, then coming down on the counter, holding on. He shakes his head. “I was always good at following the rules. But lately, I think – I think I’ve been walking the tightrope, and now it feels like I’m falling. It scares me, the things I’ve done, the things I would do – what I did today, Steve.”

“You did what you had to do,” Steve says. “You could have stopped him, and then? Would that have made you a better man? A better cop? You seriously believe that?”

“I don’t know,” Danny says. “I can’t tell, and that’s what scares me.” He laughs, a broken, ugly sound, and for a second, Steve thinks it will turn into a sob, but then Danny takes a deep breath and continues. “What we’re doing, the way we’re doing it – it’s going to come crashing down on us, sooner or later. The fallout’s going to be ugly.”

“You shouldn’t – you shouldn’t think that way,” Steve says. “We’re saving lives. We’re saving people, Danny, we’re trying to protect them, get the bad guys off the streets, and we’re good at it.”

“No,” Danny says in defeat. “If it were about taking out the bad guys, I would have taken out Matt.”

“It’s not that easy,” Steve says. “Danno, I know you. You’re a good guy, you’re a good cop. You’re a good father. You’re a good partner.” He stops, not quite sure what else he can say, or do, to convince Danny. And he doesn’t think that Danny truly regrets what he did, no more than Steve regrets taking the ten millions, it’s more that he thinks he _should_ regret it, and that’s not something Steve can help him with. He takes a step toward Danny. “It’s okay, Danny.” 

Wanting to offer reassurance, comfort, something, he puts a hand on Danny’s shoulder. He isn’t prepared for the way Danny looks at him, eyes wide and desperate, and how his shoulders sag under Steve’s touch, how he lets out another too-shaky breath, and leans into the touch, all but swaying toward Steve. Driven by instinct, Steve brings up his other hand to steady him, holding him by his shoulder, and then, somehow, he’s pulling Danny into a hug. 

“It’s gonna be okay,” Steve says, patting Danny on the back. It’s more awkward than it should be, for some reason, maybe because Danny doesn’t usually do casual bro hugging, because Danny is kind of aloof, intent on keeping his distance. He’s keeping people at arm’s length with both words and body language. 

Not right now, though. Right now, he’s leaning into Steve, forehead pressed against his shoulder, his breaths irregular and fast. “That’s what you want to believe,” he mutters, but it’s a lame comeback, from him. And he doesn’t show any inclination to move, so that the hug is already going on longer than it rightfully should, It would be rude for Steve to just pull away, only that they’re rapidly crossing the line between awkwardness and embarrassment

Danny lifts his head to look at him. 

Steve has one moment to think, _oh shit_ , and then Danny pulls his head down and kisses him, and Steve holds his breath and stands frozen on the spot, with his heartbeat skyrocketing – 

Danny pulls back. “This is the day of horrendous mistakes,” he says with a rueful smile. “So I thought, what the hell, might was well make them all.”

Steve stares at him, at a loss for words, and Danny runs a hand through his hair and looks down at the floor. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No,” Steve says, after a second, in a rough voice. “You shouldn’t have.”

“Great,” Danny says. “If you want to punch me, go ahead. Not going to stop you." 

“Danny –”

“And if you’re trying to let me down gently – don’t. I’m really not in the mood for any more bullshit today.”

“Danny.”

“What.”

“You shouldn’t have,” Steve says. “You’re already driving me crazy, and if we do this, it’s going to be _so_ much worse.”

Danny lifts his eyes to stare at him. “If?” 

“If,” Steve says. “If you mean it. If it’s not just –” he doesn’t finish the sentence. Danny watches him, waiting – eyebrows rising. _Go on._ “Yes,” Steve says. “Yes, Danno.”

“You’re an idiot,” Danny says. “You _are_ , don’t deny it. You, Commander McGarrett, are trouble with a capital ‘t’. For the record, this is an outrageously bad idea. You’re just that kind of person who can literally drive a guy _insane_. You and me – it’s an infallible way to madness, one way ticket, no way out. If we do this, we’re going to be stuck with each other, because if there’s one thing I’m really bad at? It’s letting go of people. But I’m also stupidly in love with you, which is why I guess it’s too late anyway. So if you don’t mind, you could make my day a whole lot better by taking me upstairs and fucking me through the mattress.” His voice breaks on the last few syllables, and he doesn’t wait for a reply, just pulls Steve’s head down again for another kiss. 

“I can do that,” Steve says as they finally have to come up for air and swallows, because it’s more than a promise of a good fuck. It’s Danny. It’s everything. 

~~~~~

“Just so we’re clear,” Danny says to him, later, much later. They’re lying in Steve’s bed, with the sheets twisted and bundled up around them. “I’m not losing you. So you better get used to the thought of sticking around.”

“Fine with me,” Steve says and pulls him just the tiniest bit closer.


End file.
